Ex-CIA Officer Claims that Open Source Revolution is About to Overthrow Global Oligarchy

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Open Source Everything makes truth rather than violence the currency of power. Open Source Everything demands that true cost economics and the indigenous concept of ‘seventh generation thinking’ – how will this affect society 200 years ahead – become central. Most of our problems today can be traced to the ascendance of unilateral militarism, virtual colonialism, and predatory capitalism, all based on force and lies and encroachment on the commons.

The national security state works for the City of London and Wall Street – both are about to be toppled by a combination of Eastern alternative banking and alternative international development capabilities, and individuals who recognize that they have the power to pull their money out of the banks and not buy the consumer goods that subsidize corruption and the concentration of wealth.

The opportunity to take back the commons for the benefit of humanity as a whole is open – here and now.”

I want to know what’s to stop this revolution from turning into a violent, destructive mess. Steele is characteristically optimistic. “I have struggled with this question. What I see happening is an end to national dictat and the emergence of bottom-up clarity, diversity, integrity, and sustainability. Individual towns across the USA are now nullifying federal and state regulations – for example gag laws on animal cruelty, blanket permissions for fracking.
Those such as my colleague Parag Khanna that speak to a new era of city-states are correct in my view. Top down power has failed in a most spectacular manner, and bottom-up consensus power is emergent. ‘Not in my neighborhood’ is beginning to trump ‘Because I say so.’

The one unlimited resource we have on the planet is the human brain – the current strategy of 1% capitalism is failing because it is killing the Golden Goose at multiple levels. Unfortunately, the gap between those with money and power and those who actually know what they are talking about has grown catastrophic. The rich are surrounded by sycophants and pretenders whose continued employment demands that they not question the premises. As Larry Summers lectured Elizabeth Warren, ‘insiders do not criticize insiders.’”

Whereas Niall questions whether networks will ultimately prove able to topple hierarchies in the face of being co-opted by the status quo, Robert David Steele, like myself, has little doubt. More importantly, his opinion holds a lot more weight than mine. Mr. Steele is an incredibly impressive character. A former former Marine, CIA case officer, and US co-founder of the US Marine Corps intelligence activity, he is also the number 1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction across 98 categories. In his latest book, The Open-Source Everything Manifesto: Transparency, Truth and Trust, he lays out his optimistic, decentralized and open sourced vision of the future.

Fortunately for us, he also recently sat down with Nafeez Ahmed for a Guardian article. My favorite excerpts are below:

Robert David Steele, former Marine, CIA case officer, and US co-founder of the US Marine Corps intelligence activity, is a man on a mission. But it’s a mission that frightens the US intelligence establishment to its core. With 18 years experience working across the US intelligence community, followed by 20 more years in commercial intelligence and training, Steele’s exemplary career has spanned almost all areas of both the clandestine world.

Widely recognised as the leader of the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) paradigm, Steele went on to write the handbooks on OSINT for NATO, the US Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Special Operations Forces. In passing, he personally trained 7,500 officers from over 66 countries.

In 1992, despite opposition from the CIA, he obtained Marine Corps permission to organise a landmark international conference on open source intelligence – the paradigm of deriving information to support policy decisions not through secret activities, but from open public sources available to all. The conference was such a success it brought in over 620 attendees from the intelligence world.

But the CIA wasn’t happy, and ensured that Steele was prohibited from running a second conference. The clash prompted him to resign from his position as second-ranking civilian in Marine Corps intelligence, and pursue the open source paradigm elsewhere. He went on to found and head up the Open Source Solutions Network Inc. and later the non-profit Earth Intelligence Network which runs the Public Intelligence Blog

I first came across Steele when I discovered his Amazon review of my third book, The War on Truth: 9/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism. A voracious reader, Steele is the number 1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction across 98 categories.

Last month, Steele presented a startling paper at the Libtech conference in New York, sponsored by the Internet Society and Reclaim. Drawing on principles set out in his latest book, The Open-Source Everything Manifesto: Transparency, Truth and Trust, he told the audience that all the major preconditions for revolution – set out in his 1976 graduate thesis – were now present in the United States and Britain.

Steele’s book is a must-read, a powerful yet still pragmatic roadmap to a new civilisational paradigm that simultaneously offers a trenchant, unrelenting critique of the prevailing global order. His interdisciplinary ‘whole systems’ approach dramatically connects up the increasing corruption, inefficiency and unaccountability of the intelligence system and its political and financial masters with escalating inequalities and environmental crises. But he also offers a comprehensive vision of hope that activist networks like Reclaim are implementing today.

“We are at the end of a five-thousand-year-plus historical process during which human society grew in scale while it abandoned the early indigenous wisdom councils and communal decision-making,” he writes in The Open Source Everything Manifesto. “Power was centralised in the hands of increasingly specialized ‘elites’ and ‘experts’ who not only failed to achieve all they promised but used secrecy and the control of information to deceive the public into allowing them to retain power over community resources that they ultimately looted.”

Today’s capitalism, he argues, is inherently predatory and destructive:

“Over the course of the last centuries, the commons was fenced, and everything from agriculture to water was commoditised without regard to the true cost in non-renewable resources. Human beings, who had spent centuries evolving away from slavery, were re-commoditised by the Industrial Era.”

Open source everything, in this context, offers us the chance to build on what we’ve learned through industrialisation, to learn from our mistakes, and catalyze the re-opening of the commons, in the process breaking the grip of defunct power structures and enabling the possibility of prosperity for all.

“Sharing, not secrecy, is the means by which we realize such a lofty destiny as well as create infinite wealth. The wealth of networks, the wealth of knowledge, revolutionary wealth – all can create a nonzero win-win Earth that works for one hundred percent of humanity. This is the ‘utopia’ that Buckminster Fuller foresaw, now within our reach.”

This week, I had the good fortune of being able to touch base with Steele to dig deeper into his recent analysis of the future of US politics in the context of our accelerating environmental challenges. The first thing I asked him was where he sees things going over the next decade, given his holistic take.

“Properly educated people always appreciate holistic approaches to any challenge. This means that they understand both cause and effect, and intertwined complexities,” he said. “A major part of our problem in the public policy arena is the decline in intelligence with integrity among key politicians and staff at the same time that think tanks and universities and non-governmental organizations have also suffered a similar intellectual diminishment.

So why isn’t it happening yet?

“Preconditions are not the same as precipitants. We are waiting for our Tunisian fruit seller. The public will endure great repression, especially when most media outlets and schools are actively aiding the repressive meme of ‘you are helpless, this is the order of things.’ When we have a scandal so powerful that it cannot be ignored by the average Briton or American, we will have a revolution that overturns the corrupt political systems in both countries, and perhaps puts many banks out of business. Vaclav Havel calls this ‘The Power of the Powerless.’ One spark, one massive fire.”

“Our entire commercial, diplomatic, and informational systems are now cancerous. When trade treaties have secret sections – or are entirely secret – one can be certain the public is being screwed and the secrecy is an attempt to avoid accountability. Secrecy enables corruption. So also does an inattentive public enable corruption.”

So what exactly do you mean by open source everything? “We have over 5 billion human brains that are the one infinite resource available to us going forward. Crowd-sourcing and cognitive surplus are two terms of art for the changing power dynamic between those at the top that are ignorant and corrupt, and those across the bottom that are attentive and ethical. The open source ecology is made up of a wide range of opens – open farm technology, open source software, open hardware, open networks, open money, open small business technology, open patents – to name just a few. The key point is that they must all develop together, otherwise the existing system will isolate them into ineffectiveness. Open data is largely worthless unless you have open hardware and open software. Open government demands open cloud and open spectrum, or money will dominate feeds and speeds.”

On 1st May, Steele sent an open letter to US vice president Joe Biden requesting him to consider establishing an Open Source Agency that would transform the operation of the intelligence community, dramatically reduce costs, increasing oversight and accountability, while increasing access to the best possible information to support holistic policy-making. To date, he has received no response.

Given his standing as an intelligence expert, Steele’s criticisms of US intelligence excesses are beyond scathing – they are damning. “Most of what is produced through secret methods is not actually intelligence at all. It is simply secret information that is, most of the time, rather generic and therefore not actually very useful for making critical decisions at a government level. The National Security Agency (NSA) has not prevented any terrorist incidents.”

His most intriguing premise is that the 1% are simply not as powerful as they, and we, assume them to be. “The collective buying power of the five billion poor is four times that of the one billion rich according to the late Harvard business thinker Prof C. K. Prahalad – open source everything is about the five billion poor coming together to reclaim their collective wealth and mobilise it to transform their lives. There is zero chance of the revolution being put down. Public agency is emergent, and the ability of the public to literally put any bank or corporation out of business overnight is looming. To paraphrase Abe Lincoln, you cannot screw all of the people all of the time. We’re there. All we lack is a major precipitant – our Tunisian fruit seller. When it happens the revolution will be deep and lasting.”

I want to know what’s to stop this revolution from turning into a violent, destructive mess. Steele is characteristically optimistic. “I have struggled with this question. What I see happening is an end to national dictat and the emergence of bottom-up clarity, diversity, integrity, and sustainability. Individual towns across the USA are now nullifying federal and state regulations – for example gag laws on animal cruelty, blanket permissions for fracking. Those such as my colleague Parag Khanna that speak to a new era of city-states are correct in my view. Top down power has failed in a most spectacular manner, and bottom-up consensus power is emergent. ‘Not in my neighborhood’ is beginning to trump ‘Because I say so.’ The one unlimited resource we have on the planet is the human brain – the current strategy of 1% capitalism is failing because it is killing the Golden Goose at multiple levels. Unfortunately, the gap between those with money and power and those who actually know what they are talking about has grown catastrophic. The rich are surrounded by sycophants and pretenders whose continued employment demands that they not question the premises. As Larry Summers lectured Elizabeth Warren, ‘insiders do not criticize insiders.’”

So how does open source everything have the potential to ‘re-engineer the Earth’? For me, this is the most important question, and Steele’s answer is inspiring. “Open Source Everything overturns top-down ‘because I say so at the point of a gun’ power.

Open Source Everything makes truth rather than violence the currency of power. Open Source Everything demands that true cost economics and the indigenous concept of ‘seventh generation thinking’ – how will this affect society 200 years ahead – become central. Most of our problems today can be traced to the ascendance of unilateral militarism, virtual colonialism, and predatory capitalism, all based on force and lies and encroachment on the commons.

The national security state works for the City of London and Wall Street – both are about to be toppled by a combination of Eastern alternative banking and alternative international development capabilities, and individuals who recognize that they have the power to pull their money out of the banks and not buy the consumer goods that subsidize corruption and the concentration of wealth.

The opportunity to take back the commons for the benefit of humanity as a whole is open – here and now.”

5 thoughts on “Ex-CIA Officer Claims that Open Source Revolution is About to Overthrow Global Oligarchy”

the new pope loves the internet.he said it was a blessing from god.if you are a lifelong politician,like nancy pelosi,diane dickstein,or harry reid then you hate god and the internet………..im so confused:)

Ok Mr Steele I’ll bite
How about THIS Open Source suggestion from an American fruit vendor.
If we are being systematically impoverished by a bastardized predatory corruptocratic capitalism; if this is what we are presently fated to face in the USSA, then we will fight these wealth redistribution bastards with our poverty.
We will throw our penury into their faces.
We will not buy the slave built crap; the feces and pesticide laden factory food.
We will bankrupt Walmart, JC Penny, Monsanto, General Motors, Chevron and their ilk.
We will take our dire situation to the streets.
Gerald Celente says “Those who have lost everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it”
So I will try this once again.
It’s salty so read with caution

A MODEST MANIFESTO

WE, THE GUN OWING PEOPLE OF AMERICA, ARE THE REAL HORATIUS, CAPTAIN OF THE GATEWE WILL BE CALLED AND READY TO DEFEND OUR HOMES, RAMPARTS AND COUNTIES FROM THE BARBARIANSWE ARMED AMERICANS ARE 150,000,000 STRONGWE OWN 300,000,000 GUNSWE POSSESS 1,000,000 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION FOR EVERY THUG AND GOON SENT AGAINST USWE ARE 1,000,000 FOR EVERY ONE WHO FIGHTS AGAINST USWE WILL FIGHT IN THE COOL SHADOWS OF THE BULLETS THAT STREAM TOWARDS OUR ENEMIESWE HAVE THE NUMERICAL ODDS AND RESOLUTE WILL TO PREVAIL AGAINST THOSE WHO OPPOSE USTHE POLICE LIVE AMONGST US, JUST DOWN THE STREET; A TACTICALLY BAD POSITION FOR THEM—JOIN US!THE SOLDIERS, WHETHER DOMESTIC OF FOREIGN MERCENARIES, UN TROOPS OR RUSSIANS, WILL DIE BY THE THOUSANDS IF THEY ATTACK US; THE STALWARTS, THE MILITIAS, THE OATH KEEPERSWE WILL EXECUTE THE POLITICIANS WITH OUR FIRING SQUADS UNTIL THE BARRELS OF OUR GUNS SMOKE AND GLOW RED IN THE DAWNWE WILL TERMINATE THE BANKSTERS AND THEIR SPAWN; HUNG DRAWN AND QUARTERED; THEIR BODIES LEFT FOR THE PIGS TO EATWE WILL NEITHER ASK FOR NOR GIVE ANY QUARTER AS MERCY IS NOT IN OUR NATUREWE WILL PREVAIL AGAINST THE IMPUDENCE AND ARROGANCE OF THE 1% WHO COME AND TRY TO TAKE OUR FIRE ARMSTHERE ARE MILLIONS OF US; CIVILIANS AND VETERANS ALIKE, READY TO TAKE TO THE STREETS, ROOFTOPS AND TREE LINESDHS SOLDIERS, MERCENARIES AND HESSIANS WILL FIGHT US AT THE END OF LONG SUPPLY LINES. WE WILL STARVE THEM BY DESTROYING THESE LINESWE WILL TAKE THEIR ARMS AND USE THEM AGAINST THESE QUIZLING ATTACKERSWE WILL STACK THEIR BODIES IN THE SUN UNTIL THEY ROTASSYMETRICAL WARFARE WILL BE OUR WEAPON TO END THEIR AGRESSIONWE WILL CARRY THIS FIGHT TO EVERY ACRE OF LAND POLLUTED BY THE FOULNESS OF THOSE WHO WOULD MAKE US SLAVESWE, THE WARRIORS AND FREEMEN, ARE WELL ARMEDWE WILL NOT LIVE AS SLAVES, DEFENSELESS AND STRIPPED OF OUR WEAPONSWE WILL ALLOW SOME TO LIVE ONLY LONG ENOUGH TO DIG THE GRAVES OF THOSE WE SLAYWE WILL END THE GRAVE DIGGERS, KICKING DIRT OVER THEIR BODIESTHOSE WHO CONSORT WITH THE ENEMY WILL RECEIVE SPECIAL TREATMENTWE WILL TAKE BACK OUR REPUBLIC NO MATTER THE PERSONAL COSTMOLON LABE

There are intelligence investigations which can have commendable reasoning behind them … for instance, to discover early purchasing trends among people that aren’t otherwise evident without systematic probing, or emerging moral shifts which administrators ought to begin accommodating to promote harmony … among many others. But, like all obscure information developments, they have the ‘double-edged sword’ effect.

Ok, so once we quit our jobs, stop spending $ at stores, and successfully redesign America into a 3rd world country where I have to trust “pablo’s” oranges or “Bob’s” milk to be sanitary and healthy to digest (at the local fruit stand & market) – you know the one…. with hanging meat, flies, various smells…. basically capitalism at it’s RAWEST form (with little capital)
…. How is this an improvement again? – Look I get it.. Corporate monopolies…. gotta be squished for competition, Federal regulations, they stymie growth (few actually help)…fiat currency, scam, but unless I’m missing something, the Poor in the U.S. live better than most middle class in 3rd world countries. The sewage system does it’s job, the water system (for the most part) is satisfactory, it’s clean without disease, we have much to be thankful for amongst all the bad; I’m not certain if I morally support “burning it to the ground” thesis as an answer. Are the rich getting richer from developed economy? Yes, does that wealth effect ACTUALLY trickle down to the poor? I’d have to say YES. (not talking about QE mind you)
I’ve traveled more than most, less than a lot, and not nearly enough compared to some, but what I have seen in quality of sanitary living out there always results in a happy sigh of relief to return “home” to the U.S.A.
On the topic of creating change by destroying American capitalism I’m going to have to take a pass. I would like to see changes, and I know most of them cannot happen without drama (to put it lightly) but when the dust settles, I would like to see public works still working, many corporations still around that I enjoy etc. Corporations were here 100 years ago, and Americans enjoyed the affordability of “manufacturing” that brought America into the industrial age. I’d like to see that development not reduced into ashes if at all possible. An Industrialized Corporate America paved over the dust and dirt and brought electricity and clean water into our homes. (ok now im ranting- I’ve said my peace I guess)

shamus001 I’ve thought the same thing Third world by Jim Willie’s definition is not the Souk filled with questionable food and donkeys, putt putts and smells that would gag a maggot
The long painful screech to third world state is more of a state of unrelenting poverty where someone can but decent food, have access to reasonable clean water and mostly uninterrupted power. The poverty will be there, concealed either by the electronic bread lines or people who still try to keep up appearances despite their penury. I see it as something more of a poverty of the sould brought about by hopelessness tempered slightly by government assistance
The real crash is possible if we get to a grid down situation. In that paradigm it would be every man and woman for themselves. As I mentioned in the Prepper post, if we had 3 months of that situation on a country wide basis we could seem something like Selco and his one year in hell in Serbia or the scale of devastation we see in a third world country where a natural disaster takes down their entire supply chain.
In that case we might see a 50-90% die off of the American population. That would fit the theme of the oligarchs and elites. That would remove a substantial population of useless eaters.

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